Ready for the next VRMMO experience?
To say that Japan’s Sword Art Online (SAO)Â is popular is an understatement. Created in 2009 from anime novels, it now boasts over 16.7 million light novel copies sold worldwide, along with a television series and three PlayStation games.
Yes, SAO is big in Japan. The plot is set in the year 2022 — with thousands of players logged into a Virtual Reality Massive Multiplayer Online Game (VRMMO) where what is real and what is fiction is a matter of life and death for the beta and alpha testers of this VR game within a game.
The Sword Art Online players wear a helmet called NerveGear to control the game. After a journey to Aincrad, a floating castle with 100 floors, players encounter a variety of monsters and floor bosses that must be defeated in order to survive.
Starting today, a real-life Sword Art Online: The Beginning, is being played by 208 lucky gamers.
The VRMMO sponsored by IBM, replaced the NerveGear helmets with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets. The event showcases IBM’s SoftLayer cloud technology with the high performing, cognitive computing big data power of Watson to take the video gaming industry into completely new worlds of game play. After a 3D body scan, gamers are transformed into avatars of themselves that live inside the game. No controllers are required as players use their body to make moves.
Are you ready for the next VRMMO experience? Join the discussion below!
Learn more about Watson and gaming
- Out-thinking old school: Using games to develop cognitive computing skills
- Watson’s new API’s integrate with Unity
- What makes Serious Games so serious?
- Video: The role of Developers in the Wild Wild West of Virtual Reality
“No controllers are required as players use their body to make moves.” Wow, can’t wait to become part of the game!
I am a huge fan of Sword Art Online, thank you IBM for making a dream come true for us fans! I know the event in Japan is just an “Alpha test” but I beg you to move this project forward to a full fledged game! SAO fans and VR enthusiasts alike will thank you.
This is absolutely exciting and cannot wait to try! BTW, shall the acronym for ‘Sword Art Online’ be SAO instead of SOA?
I’m still confused, mostly because my Japanese is next to nil…
Was this a tech demo to see how IBM’s SoftLayer cloud technology can be used in a VRMMO context, or the actual development start of an SAO VRMMO?
Sadly only a tech demo for the moment. But who knows what the future brings us. Would be stupid to not make a real SAO VRMMO. Even for a MMO SAO have great ideas. What IBM does here with the SoftLayer cloud technology is not so far away from the Cardinal system in SAO itself.
IBM’s Watson in a lot of ways can function exactly like the Cardinal System. It can manage the game on its own and self correct errors like Cardinal can.
Uma pergunta no trailer não mostrou movimentos das perna. vai ser possÃvel correr e andar ?
如何选ä¸208çš„å…¶ä¸ä¸€äºº
[…] Sayangnya, hanya ada 208 orang saja yang bisa menikmatinya. Untuk menggantikan NerveGear, IBM menggunakan Oculus Rift dan HTC Vive. Mereka juga menggunakan teknologi 3D body scan agar kalian bisa tampil di […]
[…] Sayangnya, hanya ada 208 orang saja yang bisa menikmatinya. Untuk menggantikan NerveGear, IBM menggunakan Oculus Rift dan HTC Vive. Mereka juga menggunakan teknologi 3D body scan agar kalian bisa tampil di […]
[…] The not really a virtual reality game that is the IBM IBM +0.03% marketing stunt called Sword Art Online: The Beginning released its first in-game footage recently and it looks thoroughly terrible. […]
Umm.. The only thing that could make it better is if they fix the bugs, graphics, and sense of how close or far something is.
Is the equipment out yet or is it still in the beta test
“The VRMMO sponsored by IBM, replaced the NerveGear helmets with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive VR headsets. The event showcases IBM’s SoftLayer cloud technology with the high performing, cognitive computing big data power of Watson to take the video gaming industry into completely new worlds of game play. After a 3D body scan, gamers are transformed into avatars of themselves that live inside the game. No controllers are required as players use their body to make moves.” this just got real…. VERY real…
To be honest, those demo are far below my expected. It looks like this demo was developed by a amateur VR programmer. Also, Do NOT try to throw away the controllers if you are not going to develop a new controllers hardware. Leap motion is a magic staff, but still not good as the motion capture tools like Control VR or Perception Neuron.
I’m wandering if this game will become available internationally or will it be limited to Japan only. Also, if it is to be an international game, how will you make language interchangeable?
If the game is multiplayer and follows the original story, then, personally, then players would be much better served if everyone play as themselves instead of playing either Kirito or as a companion. It’s much better to have Kirito and his gang played by AIs (and voiced, preferably by original voice actors), or a GM.
I love sao
SAo is awesome
[…] Friday, IBM shared demo gameplay footage leading up to the Tokyo event (shown below). Considering all the disappointed […]
[…] Friday, IBM shared demo gameplay footage leading up to the Tokyo event (shown below). Considering all the disappointed […]
You could make better graphics … like more anime , and better skin but the other tings are fantastic !! i cant wait until it comes !!… My dream comes true!! Yay
[…] is sponsor van het project, dat slechts als techshowcase bedoeld is voor de mogelijkheden van de SoftLayer-clouddienst van het bedrijf om grote hoeveelheden […]
[…] https://developer.ibm.com/dwblog/sword-art-online-vrmmo/ […]
[…] SOURCE: IBMVollständige Immersion: Oculus Rift, Leap Motion und VR-Laufband was last modified: März 21st, […]
[…] Friday, IBM shared demo gameplay footage leading up to the Tokyo event (shown below). Considering all the disappointed […]
1. 3d monit scan + scan brain…
2. decode.. moore steps:D
3. beta version without 3d monit but tested it is ok and repair bugs
4. Complet edtion true vr:)
wait and hope for true full dive:)
[…] show off it’s current technologies. Here’s what the IBM developers had to say on their blog. […]
[…] Quelle: IBM […]
that I could take part in the experiment;
I hope this nerve gear conduct with brain… this will be more conducted to all people sense of body.. in reality we dont need to move around.. we only sleep and conduct this nerve gear to our head.. and link start to our brain… i seems its gonna be get long time until they develop that.. !